Food package



June 10, 1952 w. MORRISON FOOD PACKAGE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jun 25,1949 llllllllillllllllllllnl. D

sa. a x.

fnvenlor -127i] z'oZ L. Mor'P/son June 10, 1952 K WJ.. MORRISON FooDPACKAGE 3 Sheets-'Sheet 2 Filed Jun 25, 1949 June 1.0, 1952 w. L.MoRRxsoN FOOD PACKAGE Patented June 10, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEFOOD PACKAGE Willard L. Morrison, Lake Forest, Ill.

Applicationl June 25, 1949, Serial No. 101,454

1 claim. 1

My invention relates to food containers and method of packing food andthe like and has for one object to provide a package wherein evaporationand desiccation cannot take place.

Another object of my invention is to provide means for hermeticallysealing food within a metal foil container.

Another object of the invention is to provide a means of packaging foodthat assures a uniform temperature throughout.

Another object is to provide a means of packaging food wherebyrefrigeration applied at one point of the group of packages will betransmitted throughout the group.

Other objects will appear from time to time in the course of thespecification and claim.

My invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in theaccompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectionthrough the assembled containers and tote box;

Figure 2 is a section through an individual container and supporttherefor;

Figure 3 is a section similar to Figure 3, the individual containerbeing partially closed;

Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Figure 1; and

Figure 5 is a section through a package including a plurality ofassembled tote boxes.

Like parts are indicated by like characters throughout the specificationand drawings.

In the packaging and shipment of frozen food it is imperative that thepackage be vapor tight` My co-pending patent application Serial No.59,352, discloses the idea of using aluminum or metal foil, sealing itat a distance from the body of material in the container, the seal beingthen folded back on the package or container. This sealing and foldingtakes place along the long side and on the two ends.

In the present application, I propose to apply this same sealing methodto the individual food containers and to the outer containers or toteboxes. Referring to Figure 2, I illustrate a support I for the foilcontainer 2 after one end is sealed. The charge can then be inserted inspace 4 and the other end 5 sealed at a point 6 away from the charge.After the seal 6 is secure the end is folded down against the package asshown in Figure 3. The individual food packages are then packed togetheras shown in Figure 1, the folded ends may be alternately arranged. Thegroup of individual packages is then encompassed in a large foil packageor tote box 'l with the ends 8 sealed and folded back in a similarmanner to the individual package.

If. desired, agroup QiY the individual containers 2,01) tote boxes 1 asshown in Figure 5 may be groupedv together in any convenientarrangement, perhaps with folded ends alternately adjacent. The, entiregroup may then be wrapped in insulating material 9' withDry Ice I0included. This is a convenient methodl of carrying frozen food to thecountry in. an automobile.

By metal foil I' means a sheet of metal having the followingcharacteristics: (1) it can be easily bent, folded, formed or shapedwithout the use of any tools other" than the unaided hands of theoperator; (2) it has no noticeable tendency to spring back or to resumeits original shape but will when bent, remain in the shape and form inVwhich it was left by thehand of the operator; (3)' it may be easily cutby the use of simple tools such as a pair of ordinary household scissorsor a pen knife. All three of these characteristics are essential to myinvention, because the foil must be susceptible of the same type ofmanipulation and use in a bag or package as is paper. The foil containeradds the vapor and waterproof characteristics of metal, added strengthand permanence and is a good conductor of heat.

In effect, therefore, I propose to pack the food or other material,frozen if desired, in a metal rather than a paper bag. I thus obtain allthe desirable qualities of paper, and add to them the desirablequalities of a metal container.

I have packed a plurality of paper food packages in a metal tote box,however, when this is done excessive care must be used in opening thetinplate tote box to avoid damaging the individual paper containers, andeven with the greatest care it is impossible to avoid the destruction ofan occasional package. This requires the use of special tools at best,the highest degree of skill and takes time and money that could bebetter spent elsewhere. Another disadvantage to the tinplate tote box isthat when it is opened it is hard to dispose of, whereas the foilwrapper or tote box may be easily baled and disposed of, almost likepaper.

It is interesting to note that the problem of opening the tote boxandthe individual package is much the same. The contents are usuallyfrozen and hard if not impossible to cut with a knife, but when the endof the bag is unrolled exposing the seal, the two layers between theseal and the bag contents can be easily severed and the bag opened andits contents discharged as desired. Referring to the tote box the samecondition prevails, the seal can be unrolled at one or both ends, and acut may be made without any danger of interfering or mutilating ordamaging any of the inner packages and they may be withdrawn as desired,or the side seal may be then unrolled and the wrapper cut between theside seal and the contents and the foil may be removed leaving theassembly of packages intact.

In freezing or shipping and storing, the outer foil of the tote box inintimate contact as it is with the foil of the inner packages, and thefoil of the interior packages in intimate contact with each otherresults in providing a heat conductive path or plurality of heatconductive paths throughout the entire mass to promote freezing in thefirst instance and to maintain a uniform temperature in the entire massin storage and shipping.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows:

In the packaging of food to be frozen it is advantageous to use a methodthat will eliminate evaporation, this requires a vapor tight seal. Thealuminum foil is sealed with a sealing binder which makes such aclosing. This is accomplished at a point suciently far from the foodthat the seal does not contact the food. The foil is then folded flatagainst the package.

The sealing heat thus does; not affect the contents of the container,and when the package, be it individual container or tote box is to beopened all that is necessary is to unroll the sealed end and cut thefoil with a knife between the seal and the contents. This makes itpossible to easily open the package without interference with thecontents.

I claim:

A package for the shipment and storage of food and the like comprising aplurality of separate rectangular metallic foil covered bodies, themetallic foil being sealed along opposed adjacent edges at points farremoved from the package and then folded down against the package sothat each package comprises a longitudinal folded seam and a transversefolded seam at each end, said packages -being assembled side by side andend to end, the folded seams on one package lying adjacent the foldedseam on the other package whereby the space between end abuttingpackages equals only the thickness of the folded seam of a singlepackage, a one-piece foil wrapper enclosing all of the assembledfirst-named packages, the wrapper having its abutting edges sealed alonga line removed from the final contour of the package and being thenfolded against the package along one side and both ends thereof.

WILLARD L. MORRISON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 471,609 Haines Mar. 29, 18921,638,759 Whelan Aug. 23, 1927 1,782,526 Beardsley Nov. 25, 19302,115,738 Metzger May 17, 1938 2,298,545 Waters Oct. 13, 1942 2,304,591Pape et al. Dec. 8, 1942 OTHER REFERENCES Good Wrapping Materials NotExpensive When Properly Used, Winter, reprint from Locker Operator,August 1946.

